describe the carbon cycle in detail with diagram ? its urgent

Carbon Cycle-



Main key process involved in carbon cycle are photosynthesis and respiration.

  1. In photosynthesis carbon-dioxide and water produce carbohydrate and oxygen. While respiration oxidize food to give carbon-dioxide and water.

  2. In ocean and in rocks carbon-dioxide dissolves readily in water. In rock it get stored as calcium carbonate.

  3. Carbon can either be liberated to atmosphere through respiration or can be passed to animal when being eaten or remain in plant even after death.

  4. After death of plant or animal decomposition take place and carbon dioxide get released to atmosphere. They can also be buried inside the earth and converted to coal or natural gas . Natural gas and Coal are fuels and on combustion they release carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.

  5. Carbon dioxide goes into the oceans and excess of carbon-dioxide can cause global warming.

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it is a cycle involving biological, geological and chemical processes, in which carbon atoms are exchanged between the Earth's biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and the atmosphere. The carbon cycle is one of the most important cycles of the earth and symbolizes the recycling of this abundant element throughout the biosphere as well as in all of its organisms.

It is usually considered that there are five major reservoirs of carbon on the planet, which are interlinked by flow of exchanges. These reservoirs are:

  • The atmosphere
  • The terrestrial biosphere, which includes freshwater sources and other organic material like soil carbon.
  • The oceans - has dissolved carbon in inorganic as well as organic living and non-living marine flora and fauna.
  • The sediments which includes fossil fuels.
  • The planet's interior, has carbon in the earth's mantle and crust. It is vented to the atmosphere or hydrosphere by volcanic eruptions and geothermal activities.

Let us see the carbon cycle diagram in a symbolic form first, that just illustrates the flow of carbon in various processes amongst the various layers discussed above.

Carbon Cycle


Here is the exact flow of events, as carbon flows from one layer to another as shown in the carbon cycle diagram above.

  • In the process of photosynthesis, atmospheric carbon is absorbed by plants.
  • This carbon is transferred form plants to the animals feeding on them, and further moves up the food chain.
  • Respiration, digestion and metabolism plants and animals result in some transfer of carbon back to the atmosphere.
  • Some carbon also moves to the lithosphere when these living organisms die or when wood and leaves decay or when animals excrete. Some of these living beings buried millions of years ago have been converted to fossil fuels.
  • Mining and burning of fossil fuels cause this carbon to move from the lithosphere to the atmosphere.
  • Some of this atmospheric carbon gets dissolved in the oceans and thus completes the cycle.

Here is just another general carbon cycle diagram representing the movement of carbon in various layers. In this one, we can clearly understand the complete cycle and one can easily figure out that the total amount of carbon remains fixed. There is no creation or destruction of carbon in this process and only involves the movement of this element around a complete cycle in compound form.

Carbon Cycle Diagram - Steps


Hope you have thoroughly understood the carbon cycle diagram. In these times of greenhouse effect concerns, maintaining the balance in the carbon cycle becomes very vital

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